BEGINNER BASS GUITAR LESSONS

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

If
you are new to bass guitar, your probably wondering "where do I
begin?" I have found a good starting point is found within the chords
the guitar player is playing, mainly the root note of the chord. Let's
assume the guitar player is playing a simple 1,4,5 chord progression,
in the key of A. That means the chords he or she will be playing will
be the 1 chord (A), the 4 chord (D), and the 5th chord (E). So you,
as a bass player just starting out want to focus on those three
chords, and play the root note of each chord. Here is a very simple
example using open strings to get you started.

Again,
we are simply playing the root note of the chord the guitar player is
playing, switching root notes as he or she switches chords. By the
way, this pattern above is your basic 1,4,5 chord progression pattern,
and is a movable pattern. To play this same pattern in the key of G,
the chords would be 1 chord (G), 4 chord (C), and 5 chord (D). Here is
an example of the same pattern but in the key of g;

The
pattern is simple, play any root note on the low E string, now move
down one string and play the note at the same fret, now move down two
frets and play the note at that fret.

Here
is one more pattern you could use, making use of root notes. This
pattern is not movable because it uses open notes. But this will add
one more option to playing along with a guitar player as you begin your
journey on the bass guitar.

This
is pretty simple stuff, but it will get you started so you can play
along side a guitar player, and its good if you can find someone who is
just starting out on guitar so the two of you can practice and learn
together. I will be adding a second lesson titled PLAYING OCTAVES ON A BASS GUITAR soon, until then, practice, learn, and have fun with your instrument.

Many
songs use nothing more then a 1,4,5 chord progression, so as a bass
player, you will have to know not nly what a 1,4,5 chord progression is,
but how to quickly find the notes on your bass fretboard. A 1,4,5
chord progression is simply the three chords the guitar player will be
moving between. But how do you, as a bass player, know what those
chords are?

Say
the guitar player says he's going to be playing a 1,4,5 chord
progression in the key of A. The three chords he will be moving around
from will be the A chord, the D chord, and the E chord. Finding the
chords, in any key, is as easy as counting to 1, 4, 5. Here is how it
works. 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, 4 = D, 5 = E. So the 1,4,5 chords are 1/A,
4/D, and 5/E.So
what if he wants to play in the key of G? G now becomes you 1 chord.
So start counting up from G. 1 = G, 2 = A, 3 = B, 4 = C, 5 = D. So
now you know how to find the chords within a 1,4,5 chord progression.

Now
to find a simple pattern to apply this quickly to our bass guitar
fret board. Lucky for us, there is such a pattern, and it is movable,
meaning once you learn the pattern, you can quickly move it up and down
the fret board. Here is the pattern.Say
the pattern we want is the key of A, on your low E string, the root
note of the A chord is found at the 5th fret. So there is our 1 chord.
Now for the 4 chord root note, stay on the same fret, just move down
one string, there is your 4 chord root note, the D note. Now for the 5
chord root note, simply move up two frets, that is your 5 chord root
note or E note. Here is an example of what this looks like in tab;

PLAYING OCTAVES ON A BASSIn
the first lesson I covered playing the root of the chord that the
guitar player is playing. In this lesson, we will expand our sound
options by covering octaves and moving those octaves to different
positions along the bass fret board. If you have never played octaves
before, I think you will find this pretty cool.Just
like in the roots lesson, we will assume the guitar player is playing a
1,4,5 chord progression in the key of A. Here is one example of what
we could play, using octaves.

The
octave pattern should be clear. To play an octave using this pattern,
play any rot note, go down two strings, and over two frets, that is
where the octave to the root note is that you just played.. Down two,
over two, pretty simple, yet a move that opens up our tone options. And
this pattern is movable, so you can play the shape anywhere on the
bass fret board.Now let's look at another pattern, this one is not movable, since it uses an open note.